Australian retail empire Coles Myer has
enlisted Microsoft Corp., telecommunications giant Telstra and Internet
development company Zivo to design and build its online e-commerce business.

The consortium said the site will deliver a total package, including customer
research, software development, branding, marketing, payment systems and
systems maintenance.

"We were looking for the most appropriate way to offer products to our
customers who want to shop online," said Jon Wood, Coles Myer's chief
information officer, of the company's decision to move online.

The Coles Myer site will use Microsoft's Windows NT and Site Server
software, along with Telstra's SureLink secure electronic commerce technology.
Zivo will handle the project management, system
architecture, graphic design, software development, integration and
maintenance. The project is expected to involve more than 20 staff from the
combined organizations.

Zivo will collaborate with Internet strategy company Australasia 21 on the
business, branding and marketing plans for Coles Myer's site.
Australasia 21's founder and managing director John Wood said he was
determined the project would stand out from commonplace online efforts.

"As a team, we will focus on developing a solid business rather than simply
putting up a Web site," he said. "We believe the potential for electronic
commerce is very rich, but we need to do solid consumer research first to
avoid false starts."

Coles Myer owns department stores Grace Bros, Target, Myer and K Mart, the
Coles Supermarkets chain and a host of smaller stores. Currently the group
is evaluating what types of products will appeal to its customers.

The company will also collect information on
purchases, site visitors, and product data to enable it to be highly
responsive to market conditions. The performance of the site will be
closely monitored so that product range and presentation, in-site
promotions, and traffic generation strategies can be fine-tuned to maximize
traffic and site appeal.

At Australasia 21, Wood predicted the first marketing stage would take
around two to three months, then it will progress to investigating what
works best for the site's design.